House: "Half-Wit"Review

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House takes on the case of a savant who is brain damaged in this very good episode.

By Staci Krause

House is back for one episode before taking another break, but the episode was top-notch. Although one element of the show was easy to puzzle out, the rest of the show was well worth the one hour journey. "Half-wit" starred Dave Matthews as a 35-year-old savant who was hit by a car when he was 10, became brain damaged and, in the process, a master pianist even though he had never had formal training. Add in a story with a typical House ending, and it has all the makings of a great episode.

House's story this episode led everyone to believe he had brain cancer and was dying. He went along with this, although it was very far from the truth. This story quickly became predictable as soon as the treatment House was going to seek was revealed. He faked his cancer in order to get into a test study that treats depression in terminal patients in a unique way. The question definitely arose as to how far House will go for a permanent fix to his pain. Apparently, leading everyone around him to believe he's dying and permitting them to feel loss and waste their time looking at his diagnosis isn't too far.

As for the main medical case, the savant was admitted with pain in his left hand, which in itself would not be interesting, but House's real interest in the case seemed to be with how being in the accident made the boy a 'half-wit' while bestowing upon him an amazing musical ability. House actually offered the boy and his father a way to treat the brain damage and possibly give the man a different life, but in the process, he would lose his talent to play the piano. The remedy, which was rather extreme, was to remove one half of his brain. Of course that half was severely damaged, causing his seizures and perhaps not allowing him to reach his true potential.

The humor was great in this episode, despite the morbidity of the story. Cameron's kiss was intriguing, although she did it only to try to gain a sample of House's blood, but again opened the door for the two of them to come back together. When Cameron tried to give House a sample of his own medicine, it didn't last, but we again saw her growth and ability to turn off her emotions. Chase and Cameron's fling was highlighted twice in this episode and it is very interesting how this relationship has made Chase much more interesting. It was certainly hilarious how quickly House picked up on their relationship, since in the first seconds he realized they had showered together. Foreman had very little role this episode, as the focus was entirely on House and the Chase/Cameron situation.

In the end, his team diagnosed House's problem as not being cancer, which would be of great relief to the person with that actual medical record. It wasn't House's of course. Wilson, once again, chimed in with offers of friendship and continued to take House's jabs. It appeared this made some difference, since the very last moments of the episode show House taking what could be considered a positive step. Now that we know House isn't dying of cancer, we can move on to his next method of dealing the pain. So far, medication, the girl who felt no pain and now a brain cancer study he tried to get into have all let to disappointment for him.

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